San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-03-19
ART CRITICISM.
A dissertation on Critics-A Critic Criti-
cised-A San Antonio Painting
Under the Focus.


A dissertation on Critics-A Critic Criti-
cised-A San Antonio Painting
Under the Focus.
To be truthful and reliable art critic
one must not only be able to praise the
good points, but to bring out the bad
ones. Rosa BoDheur once said, when
standing In a salon before one OF her IA
nous pictures, IL wish l could hear the
faults Of that picture described. know
they are there, but am too concerted to
admit them even to myself" Or course
all were amused at her honesty. We all
know that indiscriminate praise is the
greatest misfortune that can happen to
any young artist, be they even SO talen-
ted To be a valuable art critic Is no
small task. One must know something
Of the various methods and schools OF
art; must be able TO distinguish between
what really pleases the eye and what 10
really meritOrious; slso, must distin-
guish the fine point OF perspeo-
tive, light and shadow, and the
relative law Of proportions; and last,
but not least, colOrings. Ii may
seem to many al easy task to write up
simple picture, or an Art exhibition,
but no greater mistake was ever made.
10 do full justice to all, to point out
errors and fallacies is not easy. 1t many
times falls to the lot Of q newspaper
critic to find fault with the work OF o
personal friend, or q popular fsvorite,
and yet he is sadly rem,ss Of his duty to
the public as an educator. or faithful re-
oorder. If he allows his prejudice to gov
ern him in the slightest.
The picture Of our San Antonio artist,
Miss Stanley that is on exhibition at
Bel Bros has been accorded the most
ful-om of praise by The Express, and
while 1t would give the writer OF this
article great pleasure to endorse every
word said 10 the Express, and even
add to the same, it would De unjust to
the artist, and libel upon our own
judgment as q critic. The higher the
social position OF any artist the more
cause for severe criticism for the reason
that their work Is more apt TO be
taken as q model, and their
faults likely to become the faults
of the cOpyist. Now to the picture ex-
hibited at Bell Bros. Ii Is large paint
ing OF Madame Candalaria and her grand
niece before a large fire place, preparing
a Mexican meal. While there Is very
much 10 the picture to commend, there
Is also much to condemn. An artist
who assumes that most difficult Of all
branches, Figure Painting" must be
perfect In the study Of anatomical pro-
portions. Herein lies the great fault OF
Miss Stsnley's picture. l will call at
tention to the arm Of Madame Canda-
laria. The upper part, the humerus, is
out of proportion with the forearm, and
In fact with the whole figure. The
lower portion of the body Is also out Of
harmony with the upper. Again, the
two aims Of the grand niece are defici-
ent In the perspective, for the arm far
thest from the eye is painted the larg-
est, while 1t should be the reverse. 1t IL
hard to determine whether the chair is
child's chair or for an adult.
The coloriBgs are good, and
show painstaking, faithful work. Taken
as whole, the picture proves that
the artist possesses talent, that only
study under able teachers is needed to
develop. We are told Miss Stanley
wishes to go to Europe to finish her
studies; she may feel assured that right
here, In America, she can learn much
that will 60 far towards making the fin
ished artist.
To those who would take exceptions
to our criticism, we would say, that we
have left unsaid many things that our
work as q critic calls for; but, our aim
is not TO be too severe, SO as to discour-
age, but to give an incentive to greater
effort.